India registers first death due to severe allergic reaction post-vaccination

A committee of experts set up by the Indian government to study the side effects of Covid-19 vaccines has confirmed the death of a 68-year-old man who died due to a severe allergic reaction immediately after vaccination -- also known as anaphylaxis -- on March 8, according to a report submitted by the National Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) Committee.

The committee submitted its report after assessing 31 AEFI cases, reports our New Delhi correspondent. Of these, five cases were reported on February 5, eight on March 9, and 18 on March 31.

"It is the first death linked to Covid-19 vaccination due to anaphylaxis. It re-emphasizes the need to wait for 30 minutes at the inoculation centre after receiving the jab. Most of the anaphylactic reactions occur during this period and prompt treatment prevents deaths," NK Arora, Chairperson of the National AEFI committee, said.

As per data in the first week of April, the reporting rate is 2.7 deaths per million vaccine doses administered and 4.8 hospitalisations per million vaccine doses administered, the report stated.

The panel said mere reporting of deaths and hospitalisations as serious adverse events does not automatically imply that the events were caused due to vaccines.

Only properly conducted investigations and causality assessments can help in understanding if any causal relationship exists between the event and the vaccine, the report said, adding for causality assessments, priority has been given to death cases.